I adore Julia Louis-Dreyfus and I adore Veep. In fact, I think Veep is not just the best comedy currently on television, but that it will be long remembered as a classic. And so I was really looking forward to her hosting Saturday Night Live this week, the first time since she has been on Veep (she hosted twice before, in 2006 and 2007 when she starred in The New Adventures of Old Christine). I was especially excited for Louis-Dreyfus, an SNL alum and Emmy-award-winning comedic actress, to host after last week’s abysmal showing from notoriously not-funny man Russell Crowe.

Alas, what could have been.

I don’t know if the writers need another vacation or are looking so forward to summer vacation that they can’t focus on their job or what the problem is, but this was yet another week filled with more bad — if not downright awful — sketches. While there were some bright points last night, including something of a Seinfeld reunion, and a spoof of the cheesetastic move God is Dead 2, overall poor Julia Louis-Dreyfus was wasted on a bunch of bad, bottom of the pile sketches.

Do me a favor, guys, and pull your act together before Brie Larson hosts in a couple weeks.

The political cold open this week focused on the recent Democratic debate and featured a welcome visit from Larry David who reprised his season-long role as Bernie Sanders. It also served as a mini-Seinfeld reunion. Host Julia Louis-Dreyfus dug out her 90s blazer and curly wig to play Seinfeld’s Elaine Benes, who had some pointed questions for David’s Bernie Sanders-via-George Costanza about how, exactly, he plans to break up the big banks. David’s Sanders explains that he’d go to the banks, sit them down, and using a classic Seinfeld-ism, “yadda yadda yadda,” they’d be broken up. It’s a perfect joke that works on several levels. Unfortunately, we have to muddle through five minutes of much weaker material to get there. This, plus a whole thing where Vanessa Bayer does her Rachel from Friends impersonation, which was completely gratuitous, dragged down the entire piece. There was no need for this bit to be 7 minutes long. Editing is your friend, writers! (Grade: B+)

In her monologue, Julia Louis-Dreyfus makes fun of her years at Saturday Night Live and some of her early acting roles, including parts in the D horror movie, Troll, and the terrible and racially tone-deaf 80s comedy, Soul Man. It’s not a terrible monologue! It’s pretty self-deprecating and funny! However, having Tony Hale join her as her cue card guy is just the repeat of a brilliant bit she did when she won the 2013 Emmy and had him come on stage with her to hold her purse. I love Tony Hale, I love Veep, but this just feels stale and unoriginal. (Grade B)

The first commercial spoof of the night is for “Heroin A.M.,” a product to help heroin addicts be more productive in their daily lives by adding a bit of caffeine and a whole bunch of cocaine to their drug of choice. (Grade: A)

In this bit, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Kate McKinnon are Long Island jewelry store owners who are hawking comically large jewelry. This is one in a long line of sketches that make fun of the New York’s bridge and tunnel crowd: think “Bronx Beat” or this Jenny Slate bit, “Doorbells and More.” As such, this sketch feels 5, 10 years dated, and it’s just not that funny. How did this bit end up so early in the episode? (Grade C-)

In contrast: “Pool Boy.” In this bit, Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays an older woman embroiled in an affair with her dim-witted pool boy. I am not a huge Pete Davidson fan — I think he can be funny, but he has a lot of maturing to do — but he is terrific in this taped piece. (Grade A)

I have a question: who finds these “Cinema Classics” sketches funny? I mean, besides the writers who keep coming back to them for some reason? In this installment, Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays an actress who can’t remember a single line without it being written in large print somewhere on the set. It’s a meager idea to begin with, but then, somehow, they manage to squeeze 6 entire minutes out of it. 6 minutes that manage to feel like an eternity. (Grade C-)

In other “Wait, How’d This Make it to Air” mysteries: this Mercedes spoof, where their newest model is powered entirely by AA batteries. 9,000 AA batteries. It’s funny-ish, but I think this must have seemed like a better idea on paper than it came out in practice. (Grade B-)

It’s rare that I think “Weekend Update” is one of the best things in the episode, but here we are. (Grade A-)

The Weekend Update desk was visited by “Charles Barkley” and “Shaquille O’Neal” again, ostensibly to talk about Kobe Bryant retiring, but really to make jokes about how dumb Shaquille O’Neal is. (Grade B)

“Animal Annie” is a new Aidy Bryant character who does not have her life together and dates an iguana in a hat. (Grade A- mostly for that iguana and his hat)

And Cecily Strong revisits her character, “One Dimensional Female Character in a Male Comedy,” after a (real) study showed that even in Disney movies with female leads, male characters have more lines. Infuriating things are infuriating. (But not One Dimensional Female Character in a Male Comedy, she’s great.) (Grade A)

So, the game show sketch “Who Works Here?” in which contestants try to guess whether or not a person is an employee of a CVS, is one of those bits that is almost very funny. It’s based on an experience that everyone can relate to: trying to find help in a store whose employees are disinterested and completely useless. And the weirdos the contestants have to judge — especially during the lightning round — are legitimately funny. But somehow I was left cold by this bit, in large part because Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ host is so nasty to the contestants for no discernable reason? Either make the weirdos be very dumb, or make the contestants very dumb, but I don’t think you should make them both very dumb. (Grade B)

I legitimately have no idea what is happening in this “Speed Dating” sketch. No clue. (Grade D-)

Finally, the episode ends with arguably the best bit of the night, a spoof of the trailer for real-life movie, God is Dead 2. In this sketch, a baker is forced to violate her Christian beliefs by baking a cake for a gay wedding and is dragged to court in an attempt to force her to say, “God is gay.” Spoofing not just cheesy Christian movies, but the very notion that Christians are somehow the most persecuted group in this country, this sketch is smart, funny and shines a bright light on the absurdity of these religious persecution movements. (Grade A+)

Oh, and here’s a Paul Ryan Not!for President ad that was cut for time. And I’m not saying that it should have replaced that Mercedes commercial (although it could have) but had the cold open and that dreadful “Cinema Classics” bit been cut by just a minute each, they could have included this and raised the episode’s overall grade dramatically.

Final grade: B. I know that doesn’t seem very low, but considering I was expecting a A+ performance for Julia Louis-Dreyfus, this is disappointing.